Jacob Olinger was displaying this year's District 7 Championship shirt Saturday at the fundraiser the 12U All-Star team held, though it did get a bit wet. The All-Star team has since won the state title and is busily riaising money for a trip to the World Series in Mississippi.

PHOTO BY JEFF ROSLOW

Jacob Manley puts in a little elbow washing a van that pulled in to get cleaned at the fundraiser Saturday at Goodyear.

PHOTO BY JEFF ROSLOW

Brian Manley, the father of Jacob who is a player on the 12U Dixie All-Star team, gets in a little car washing Saturday as the team had a fundraiser at Goodyear to help raise money for their trip to the World Series.

PHOTO BY JEFF ROSLOW

Ryan Harbin was hopping up as high as he could to wash this SUV Saturday at Goodyear. The 12U Dixie All-Star team was raising money with a bake sale and car wash to raise money to help them get to the Dixie World Series in Mississippi.

PHOTO BY JEFF ROSLOW

David Wilson's hands were completely soapy cleaning this pickup truck Saturday at the fundraiser the 12U Dixie All-Star had. The state championship victors are raising money to travel to Mississippi to play in the Dixie World Series.

PHOTO BY JEFF ROSLOW

Nic Tamayo gets a little help from his dad John Marc Tamayo in coooling off at the car wash fundraiser the 12U team had in trying to raise money for a trip to the Dixie World Series. Dad Tamayo is the state championship team's manager.

PHOTO BY JEFF ROSLOW

Carlos Fernandez (center) and Jacob Manley (right) had a way of keeping their feet a bit cool Saturday at the fundraising event the 12U Dixie All-Star team had a Goodyear. Nic Tamayo was drying off a little or keeping the sun out of his eyes. The boys held the fundraiser to raise money for a trip to the Dixie World Series in Mississippi.

By JEFF ROSLOW

jroslow@heartlandnewspapers.com

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The 12U Dixie All-Star team coming off a state title championship is in the midst of raising about $10,000 to go to the Dixie World Series in Laurel, Miss.

The tournament is in the first week of August, and the team is confident of bringing home the championship trophy.

“We’re going to win because we’re that good,” said David Wilson. And he should know a little something. In the state tournament in Arcadia last week, he hit four home runs. That’s on top of the five he hit during the season.

People may have seen the team around town. Last week they were at the corner of Main Street and Broadway, hats displayed as drivers through the intersection filled them with donations to help the cause.

But they’ve got a long way to go. Parents of the players are busy getting players everywhere to raise money for the trip. They need about $10,000 to make the trip to Mississippi for the 12 players and three coaches. And, so far, the donation site they’ve set up has not yet reached $300.

“We’re a long way off,” Wes Harbin, Ryan’s father, said as he sat under the tent Saturday at the car wash/bake sale at Bartow Goodyear. But he, along with the other parents on hand, were confident they would get to the goal or close to it. The support has always been there. And people also know the talent on this team.

Six players on this All-Star team were on the 10U All-Star team from last year. That’s the team that lost in the World Series to South Carolina, 5-2. They had gotten there by scoring more than 10 runs in each of its previous contests. Four players have returned to the 12U All-Star team from last year. And not only do they have the talent, but they play well together.

To win the World Series title, Bartow beat Brooksville 5-3 in Arcadia on July 12. Before that, they first had to beat last year’s state champs, Bushnell. Down 5-0, manager John Marc Tamayo said they showed the confidence they could beat them. They won the game 7-6.

“We play as a team and we never give up,” Nic Tamayo said.

And he shows on the field he knows what he’s talking about. In the state finals against Brooksville with the score tied 3-3, a Brooksville runner on third tried to run home on a hit back to the pitcher. The ball was thrown to catcher Ryan Harbin, putting the Brooksville player in a rundown. Tamayo took the throw, collided with the base runner and tagged him out to end the inning.

In the bottom of the inning, manager Tamayo told his team he didn’t need heroes, he needed line drives. Harbin responded with a single, and PJ Sloan followed that up with a home run to left.

Currently the team is scheduled to be back on the corner of Main Street and Broadway collecting funds on Wednesday and Friday. They also have a website set up where people can donate. It’s at www.gofundme.com/Bartow12u. More fundraisers will be planned soon, as the team has less than two weeks to raise the money for the trip.

There are 12 teams scheduled in the double-elimination tournament and Bartow’s first game is against Mississippi at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 3.

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